By Anselm Noronha

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13-Feb-2013 11:49:00

The Goan club have roped in the services of Indian national team skipper and former Air India defender until the end of the season...

In what is certainly a statement of intent from Churchill Brothers, they added Sunil Chhetri and Lamine Tamba to their roster to strengthen their attack and defence as they prepare for the final stretch of matches in the I-League and the AFC Cup group stages.

Sunil Chhetri who joined Sporting Lisbon ‘B’ side over the summer on a free transfer, has seen playing time hard to come by making only three appearances from the bench so far. Lack of playing time has certainly seen the player become redundant with next to no match fitness, as was evident in the international friendly game against Palestine earlier this month.

This isn’t the first instance of Chhetri deciding to move back to the national league in India after enduring a similar experience in his stint with Kansas City Wizards, now known as Sporting Kansas, when he came back to join Chirag United, which has been baptized as Prayag United recently, in 2011.

“Yes, Chhetri is joining us until the end of the season. He shall help better our attack even further especially when the AFC Cup is just around the corner,” said Denzil Ferrao, a senior Churchill Brothers official.

Churchill Brothers lead the goal scoring charts in the I-League with 42 goals and the addition of Chhetri shall only bolster their attack further. They are just two points behind league leaders East Bengal who have played two more games than their Goan counterparts.

Tamba in action against Churchill

Meanwhile, former Pune FC centre-back Lamine Tamba too has agreed to join the Red Machines and will replace Bilal Najjarin who left for Fujairah SC of UAE last month. Tamba will have some big shoes to fill in as the Lebanese was a rock at the back for the Goan side. Van den Brink was linked with a move as well but the deal fell off at the eleventh hour.

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